WHEN ‘STRONGER TOGETHER’ MAKES US ‘GREAT AGAIN’
The system was rigged, Donald Trump kept saying. And it was. It was rigged with his lies and insults and vitriol — aided and abetted by an interfering New York FBI office and FBI Director James Comey.
There. We said it. And now it’s over — out of our system.
Likewise, anti-Trump protesters took to the streets in several different cities Wednesday chanting “not my president.” Hopefully, now the angry grief is out of those folks’ systems, too.
Defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama are right: We do need to be gracious and respect our country’s tradition of freedom and peaceful transfer of power. We do. And we will.
“We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead,” Clinton said in her concession speech Wednesday. President Obama said, “We are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country.” For his part, Trump was gracious also. In his acceptance speech in the wee hours of Wednesday morning he praised Clinton, whom he once taunted as a woman with no stamina, as a strong fighter who never quit. On Thursday, after he spent an hour and a half in the Oval Office with the president whose birthplace and legitimacy he once questioned, he said it was a “great honor” to spend time with President Obama.
“We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful and some difficulties. I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel,” Trump said.
Of course, we have to wonder — should we trust this Trump, or the one who in the year’s past campaign rallies spread conspiracy theories and lies like butter on toast?
But if President Obama and Secretary Clinton can put all the lies and the personal ugliness of the 2016 election behind them, we can, as well.
What will be harder to put away — and perhaps we shouldn’t without more evidence — is uncertainty. After all, Trump is the candidate whose 100-day plan includes repealing the Affordable Care Act that provides access to health care for 22 million poor but working Americans, along with the installation of an ultra-conservative Supreme Court justice to gnaw away at Roe v Wade. He’s a self-proclaimed “drain the swamp” president-elect who wants to deport 11 million immigrants and thinks climate change is a Chinese hoax. And our vice president-elect believes in antigay conversion therapy.
Add to that, the constant effort of our Congress to fan partisan flames of discontent: Mitch McConnell eight years ago said the GOP’s mission in Congress was to make sure Obama was a one-term president, and to obstruct anything and everything he sought.
So, yes, there’s plenty of uncertainty to go around. The New York Times on Thursday put it succinctly: “It’s a strange, distressing situation for citizens to be in — to acknowledge the danger of having a reckless, unqualified leader, while maintaining respect for the office he holds. But we cannot give in to fear or despondency. There is too much to be done.”
The Obamas and Clintons — and today, at least, the Trumps, too — grasp this and are following the examples of 44 presidencies. They are taking the high road, and talking about the tomorrow. We must, too. Climate change is real and our planet is the only home we have. Health care access is needed — no matter who plans the policy or what we call it. Children frightened that their parents may be deported need to be comforted and shielded. People worried about the backlash of recent bigoted rhetoric must be protected.
President Obama reminded us Wednesday morning that the sun will rise again tomorrow.
Let’s make sure that we all rise, too, and make tomorrow better.
We can call it being “stronger together” to “make America great again.”